


Rescue mission

by PlantPalFynn



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Apollo loves Ed, BC I SAY SO, Bertie being cannonically awful, Cheating, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change, and supports him, background Sasha Rakett/Everyone, but mostly platonic - Freeform, happy end, please tell me if I should add any tags, poly LOLOMG
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26448964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlantPalFynn/pseuds/PlantPalFynn
Summary: Edward Keystone was a bright kid. His parents had planned to marry him off to the MacGuffinghams before he was even born.But nobody can see the future and what happens in it. Be it happiness, drama or pain.Or Ed marries B*rtie and learns how horrible B*rtie is the hard way.
Relationships: Apollo & Edward Keystone, Background Commander James Barnes/Howard Carter (Rusty Quill Gaming), Edward Keystone & Sasha Racket, Edward Keystone/Sir Bertrand "Bertie" MacGuffingham, Edward Keystone/Tjelvar Stornsnasson, Sasha Racket & Zolf Smith, Sir Bertrand "Bertie" MacGuffingham & Wellington, Zolf Smith & Oscar Wilde, background Azu/Hamid, background Zolf/Wilde/Cel/Grizzop
Comments: 17
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the wonderful [Desilite](/users/Desilite) for reading over it

Edward Keystone was a bright kid. He was easy to handle and happy most of the time--just give him an animal, plush or not, doesn’t matter, and he will be happily playing with it for hours. He wasn’t as bright when his teachers tried to get him to understand politics, but he didn’t need to understand it in detail, as he was the youngest of the young Keystones and he definitely wouldn’t get the title and estate.  
His parents had planned to marry him off to the MacGuffinghams before he was even born. The young Bertrand MacGuffingham was a few years older than Ed and got spoiled by his parents, as he was their only child. But as soon as the young Bertie expressed his only interest in other boys and not girls, Ed’s parents were concerned what would happen if Ed turned out to be a girl. They decided to arrange the marriage anyway and follow it through no matter what, and they got lucky with another baby boy. Bertie was a regular guest in the Keystone house so they could get to know each other before the marriage, as Edward’s parents were not cruel enough to marry off their son to someone he didn’t know.  
They got along great for most of the time when Ed was a kid, but then Bertie hit puberty and lost interest in the still-childish Ed for a long while. Ed hit puberty and became a handsome lad, but since Bertie decided not to visit the Keystones once he was 14 and not interested in the 6-year-old Ed, he didn’t notice it.

Once Ed was 18, the marriage was brought up again, and Ed had nothing against the marriage, as he liked the boy he had met all those years ago. Bertie, now 24, was wildly different from the boy Ed hat met all those years ago; he got more rude and like a bully, but Ed didn’t know that; of course he still thought Bertie was that nice guy who played with him in the gardens in the sun. And so the marriage is arranged, and Ed is to move in on the MacGuffingham estate after the wedding since Bertie lives there alone with the servants.  
It takes place two months after Ed’s 18th birthday, and he is excited to see his fiancé again after so many years. He gets up earlier than usual, as he gets excited and nervous the weeks before the wedding, and watches the sunrise every morning and lets the sunshine on his face for an hour before he does his normal duties. Cleaning his room, which is soon to be another guest room, making sure his white suit is clean and stitching some more ornaments on it, then writing some letters to friends, playing with the dogs, and then going to bed after the sunset. And repeat.

Suddenly it is the day of the wedding. Ed can’t sit still --he was up since the sky got ever so slightly lighter, and the sunrise was one of the most beautiful Ed has ever seen. There were some clouds and they got bright red, then orange, and the light covered the whole world into a golden shimmer only to land directly in Ed’s face. The light felt like a gentle hug and approval of the time to come. After about an hour of staying outside, Ed goes back inside and gets a light breakfast and kills the time till he has to get ready by playing for what’s probably the last time in a while with the family dogs. After what feels like a too-short time, he has to get ready, so he puts on his white suit with the tiny golden embroidery of suns and sunshine on it that reflects the sun in a way that highlights Ed. Shortly after that, he and his parents get into the carriage to the MacGuffingham estate where the wedding is held. The ride itself is short, but getting out of the carriage and walking into the house feels like it took forever.

The house was not overly huge but still had plenty of room, as Ed knows from the time he had spent here as a young kid. The entry to the house is the same as back then, a couple of trees with fresh green leaves that fits the spring time on the short green lawn, but now it’s also heavily decorated with flowers and ribbons in white and gold. There are some torches with white and yellow flowers and ribbons next to the path that leads up to the door. Ed's father takes Ed's arm and leads him to the entrance, opens the door for him and leads him to his new room in the house so he can wait there till the wedding ceremony is about to start and he has to walk down the aisle to meet his future husband in front of the priest. Ed has about an hour before he is supposed to be back downstairs, so he looks around. The room is big and there isn’t a lot in it yet. It’s mostly white with yellow and gold highlights. There is an almost-empty shelf where there are only a couple of Harrison Cambells and a few works of Oscar Wilde. The bed looks really fluffy and the pillows look so soft. And they are all white, so Ed knows what he would do in the early mornings while watching the sunrise. There is also a huge desk with a quill and some paper on it, and it has the window right in front of it. Ed knows that he wouldn’t leave the desk like that; he will get one or several potted plants to put on there, and maybe a vase to put some flowers in. He sits down on the chair and starts to doodle on one of the papers just to pass the time.

When he’s walking down the stairs, his father is waiting for him. He gives him a hug, says that he hopes he has a nice life with Bertie as his husband, and then leads him outside where the ceremony is held. When they reach the open door, Ed can see Bertie standing there, wearing golden armor that is decorated with many golden falcons. He’s a tall man and has a good posture, so he looks even taller than he already is. Ed is not small, but as he slowly walks closer to Bertie and the priest, he feels smaller than he is. All the guests stand up once he and his father stepped through the door and looked at him. Ed can feel himself shrinking a bit more under all the looks, but as soon as he steps into the sun, he feels like it embraced him and he got his confidence back.  
So he straightened his back, pushed back his shoulders, pushes up his chin and takes the next step. One step closer to being a husband, then another step, and another step. Then he’s standing next to Bertie, and his father leaves his side to go to his place. The priest starts talking, and Ed slowly starts to tune him out, as he is watching the sun in the clouds and the reflections on Bertie’s armor. Soon enough, the priest came to the point where he had to say yes and so he did as it was expected of him, and Bertie was good-looking. The vows were exchanged, and Ed was serious about every single word they had planned out and said. Bertie’s vows sounded genuine, but Ed has never heard wedding vows before, so he couldn’t compare them to anything. They exchange the rings; Ed’s is silver and golden and has tiny suns around it, Bertie’s is gold and has a tiny falcon imprinted on it. And then they kiss. Ed has no experience in kissing at all, but it feels like Bertie has a lot of experience in it.

The chaos of the party distracts Ed from really realizing that he is now a married man. He’s meeting so many new people, chatting to Bertie and dancing with him, and eating from the cake. Bertie introduces him to Hamid, a halfling in a really expensive-looking suit, who hugs him as soon as they are introduced to each other, and says that Bertie is one of his college friends and that he will visit them soon after they have settled in a bit more. Hamid talks a bit more to Ed about himself and his time studying magic and some of the people he has met since he was out of uni, while Bertie was off to find someone else he wanted to introduce Ed to. Hamid leaves him after a while to chat with someone Ed doesn’t know, so Ed stands there next to the remains of the delicious wedding cake, looking for someone he knows and can talk till his husband is back.  
There is a dwarf with a pegleg and a sailor’s coat standing close to him and looking around like they’re looking for someone but also like they don’t want to be here, and Ed is torn between starting a conversation with them or leaving them alone. He decides to walk over to the dwarf and at least greet them. As he walks over, the dwarf looks at him quizzically for a moment, then seems to recognize him, and their face looks a bit less like a grumpy. As he reaches him, the dwarf says, “Congratulations on the marriage, Mister Keystone. I hope you will enjoy your time with Mister MacGuffingham. I’m Zolf Smith, Cleric of Poseidon, and here with Oscar Wilde, who I believe is talking to your husband over there.” And points to the middle of the place where Bertie and a tall man in a colorful suit are chatting.  
Zolf waves at the man, who smiles and waves back at them. “Thank you, Mister Smith, I hope you enjoy your time here,” Ed answers. “How did you and Mister Wilde meet? He is a well-known author, and you don’t seem like someone who is part of high society,” he then blurts out. Just as Zolf begins to answer, there is a shadow walking past them almost unnoticed, nicking something from Zolf. Ed only notices because Zolf turns around and says, “Sasha, give me back that dagger! You should not have them here! It is not appropriate to have daggers on you at a wedding!” then turns back to Ed and says, “I have a mercenary company, and Wilde has written an article about us after some mission in Kew Gardens. You might have read that one. The others from my team are also around. The one who just nicked her daggers back is Sasha --she does not like to be in public a lot-- and Hamid joined us a while ago. There is also Grizzop, but he is out on a solo thing, and of course Cel, our alchemist mechanic. They are building something, but I don’t even want to think about it. And of course, there is Azu. She’s a paladin of Aphrodite and really good at healing.” Ed smiles at that as Zolf speaks of all of them in a fond tone, especially Wilde and Sasha, even though he sounded like a strict dad when he told her off for nicking the dagger. “It sounds like you are close to all of them.”

At that moment, Bertie decides to come over to them bringing a smirking Oscar Wilde with them. “Hello Oscar! Hello Bertie…” Zolf says when they reach them. He sounds fond of Wilde as he greets them and kind of spiteful when he says Bertie’s name, which confuses Ed for a minute, but he can’t ask because his husband is right there and it would be rude to ask why Zolf seems to despise him. “Ed, my dear! This is Oscar Wilde. I believe you have heard of him and his works? He is a good friend of mine!” Oscar and Zolf both grimace at that, but Bertie doesn’t seem to notice it, so he doesn’t comment on it. “Yes, I have heard of Oscar Wilde,'' Ed answers Bertie, turns to Wilde, and reaches his hand out. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Wilde. I read some of your poems and other works and I loved them.” “I met Oscar a while back when I joined Mister Smith’s group, and we did some great stuff!” Bertie boasts, and puts an arm around Ed while saying that. Ed is confused for a second, as Zolf didn’t mention Bertie when he talked about his mercenary group, but pushes the thought aside, as he probably just forgot to mention it. “Nice to meet you as well, Mister Keystone. I’m glad you like my writing,” Wilde says and smirks. Zolf rolls his eyes at that but says nothing. “And yes, I have worked with your husband before, and maybe again when you two have settled down and arranged yourself. Maybe you even want to join us sometime.” “Oh no thank you, that is really kind, but I can’t fight and might just be a burden to you and the group. I’m just good at embroidery,” Ed responds as fast as he can. Wilde shoots Zolf a meaningful look and Zolf returns with a similar look that Ed can’t decipher, so he ignores both and forgets about them as soon as they fade from their faces. And they continue talking for some longer, and Bertie keeps being loud and saying stuff that makes either Zolf or Wilde or both of them roll their eyes or share glances, but he keeps shaking it off as them just being weird. So the wedding ends and Ed stays at his new home with Bertie.

He retreats to his room after all of the guests have left to sort out some of his belongings that got transferred to the new home during the wedding by some servants. He changes out of his wedding suit and puts it neatly on one of the racks to put it in his closet. Then he puts some more books on the shelf, adds the embroidery stuff next to it, puts one of the plants they took with them for him on it, and declares it done in his head while nodding. He moves to the desk next, adds another plant and moves the paper and quill away, and then he lies down on the bed for a minute.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the wonderful [Desilite](/users/Desilite) for reading over it

The next morning, Ed wakes up just before the sunrise, so he gets out of bed and walks to his room. He grabs the pillowcase, opens the window by his desk, prepares the pillowcase to embroider it later. He then sits on the desk to look outside, while the sun slowly starts to rise over the horizon till it meets his face, and he lets the sunshine on his face. The sun feels like a gentle embrace, like he is loved, and a gentle forehead kiss from a parent. After a minute he opens his eyes again, grabs the white pillowcase and his embroidery stuff, and gets ready to start, as long as the sun is still rising and he has nothing else to do.

He slowly places the first stitches of what was going to be a sun pattern. Ed had never been taught embroidery and he never planned the stitches or marked the pattern down; he just knew where he had to put the next stitch, where the needle should come up again. His sister envied him for his embroidery and has asked him to teach her, but Ed can’t do that, as he has no clue how he does it. While Ed places the next stitches, his mind wanders, and he looks out on the estate that slowly gets illuminated by the rising sun. There are some trees and a great lawn where the wedding took place yesterday, so Ed thinks about everything that happened then.

The looks that Oscar Wilde and Zolf exchanged come back to his mind, and he tries to figure out what they could have meant, but he brushes it off when 5 minutes have passed and he hasn’t made any progress in figuring it out. Then Hamid comes to his mind and the promise to visit them soon, and he gets a bit excited to meet the halfling again. He has finished the first corner of the pillowcase and decides to stop for the day, as the sun is now clearly high enough to see well enough without needing candles or gas lamps. So he gets up from the desk, puts the pillowcase and embroidery stuff away, and walks to Bertie’s room to see if he is awake by now. As he slowly and carefully peeks his head inside, he hears Bertie gently snoring and concludes he is still sleeping. Ed keeps looking at Bertie for a few more moments and then leaves to the kitchen to get some breakfast alone, since Bertie will be asleep for some more time.

After his breakfast, alone, he walks outside to the dogs that Bertie proudly showed him yesterday when most of the guests had already left. As he slowly approaches, a small dog comes out and waits patiently but with a wagging tail at the barrier. Ed opens the door and the dog runs outside and jumps around Ed’s feet. Ed reaches down and the dog is instantly under his palm and stands still to be petted, while his tail is continuingly wagging from one side to the other at a speed that Ed hasn’t seen often. The dog is a light blond that almost looks like gold, and the fur is incredibly soft. The golden name tag reads “Sol”. Ed picks up a stick and shows it to the dog. Sol jumps around Ed’s legs, and when Ed throws the stick Sol runs after it with a speed he has never seen before. Then Sol leaps into the sky and catches the stick mid-flight. The fur seems to glow in the sun. Sol catches the stick and runs all the way back to Ed with the stick in his mouth. When Sol is standing in front of Ed, Sol nudges him to pick up the stick again and throw it again. Ed does so, and this time he throws it farther than before. They continue that for a while, and then he falls into the grass and Sol comes to his side and lays his head on Ed’s belly. Ed puts his hand in Sol’s fur and starts giving him head scritches. After some more time of Ed giving Sol head scritches, they end up cuddling in the sun.

The day continues without much more happening. Ed and Bertie eat lunch together, chat and bond for a bit. Ed spends the afternoon arranging his room more and adds some small items to the house and tries to get a better look around. In the evening, they go out for dinner to a nice restaurant, hear some live music while eating some fancy food and talking. In the end, it was a nice evening with good food, some shared kisses and wine.

The days continue in a similar way. Ed gets up early, watches the sunrise, eats his breakfast alone, goes outside to play with Sol, and sometimes other dogs outside in the sunshine. And then eats lunch with Bertie. They spend the evenings together, mostly while going out to a restaurant or a play. Ed enjoys Bertie’s attention and the time they spend together. It gets into a habit between them, and Ed starts to look forward to the evenings more and more. Bertie seems to enjoy them too--at least, that's what Ed thinks--and he talks very enthusiastically to Ed.

The next week, Hamid comes around to the estate and visits Ed and Bertie. He hugs Ed as soon as he opens the door and says a greeting; then they go to the lounge to chat and catch up for a bit. Bertie joins Ed and Hamid a couple of minutes after they sit down, Hamid tells them some story about the latest mission from Zolf’s company, which he did with Sasha, Grizzop and Azu. From what Hamid tells them, they had to take care of some violent creature that seemed easy at first but got a bit more difficult when they were doing it. Sasha was unconscious for a moment and got another scar that Hamid could see if he looked closely. 

“Azu was luckily right there to heal her just a few seconds later,” Hamid adds. “She’s really good at what she’s doing with her healing magic.” “Yes, yes, I know she’s good, but I was way better at hitting and killing things,'' Bertie chimes in. 

Ed thinks for a moment how nice it would be to be able to heal someone he cares about. It would be nice to meet that Azu Hamid spoke so fondly about--she seems nice and might be a good teacher with the healing if he wanted to learn it, but now seems not like the right time to bring that up. 

So Ed only says, “She sounds like a good one. You should bring her with you, as you seem to like her.” Hamid smiles and blushes a little at that comment and stammers a quiet, “Yes if she has time for it and wants to. Maybe Sasha will come along without us knowing,” and falls silent for a bit. Bertie boasts about a party he visited and dwells in the memory of it, then tells Hamid he should go to one of those high-class parties he isn’t going right now. Hamid just nods and gives a small confirmation that he will but it doesn’t sound sincere. They continue the conversation and drink some tea till Hamid leaves to go back home to meet up again with the rest of the LOLOMG.

After a couple more days pass, Bertie proposes that they go to one of the high-society parties. To be part of the society and show presence as a newlywed couple. Ed is a bit overwhelmed at first. There are so many people there, and he stays really close to Bertie for at least the first hour. Bertie introduces Ed to some more people, like Lord Wellington, who acts a lot like Bertie (as in, he is just as loud). Ed listens to them and the stories of their past and what they did at uni. Ed tunes them out after some minutes of conversation, as he doesn’t get most of what they are talking about. He looks around to see if he finds any familiar faces, but there are none, except some people who Bertie introduced to him. 

Then Ed spots Hamid on the other side of the room. He glances at Bertie, but he seems fully engrossed in his conversation with Wellington, so he thinks he can walk over to Hamid and chat with him for a bit. Hamid sees Ed once he's halfway there and waves at him. Ed speeds up a bit and hugs Hamid as soon as he reaches him. 

“Hello Ed. How is the marriage? Is Bertie nice to you?” Hamid asks after they let go of the hug.  
“He’s nice and so is the marriage. He doesn’t interrupt my mornings where I sit in the sun and embroider stuff. I don’t think he has noticed it at all but he doesn’t have to,” Ed answers.  
''He’s been taking me out to dinner a lot. It was really nice.”  
“Yes, he does that a lot. He used to do that when we were in uni together. I don’t think there was anyone he was interested in that he didn’t ask out for dinner at least once,” Hamid says, and he looks like he’s reminded of a good old time. That’s when someone appears next to Hamid and nudges him to gain his attention. The person is dressed almost completely in black: a black jacket, black trousers and black hair. They were quite pale and seemed to have a burn scar in their face. 

Hamid turns to them and says, “What’s up, Sasha? Have you seen the one we were here to talk to?” “Yes, he’s over there talking to some posh lad, but I have his money,” and Sasha holds up a pouch that seemed like it was decently filled and smirks. “That’s not right. You should not take someone’s money,” Ed says to Sasha. Hamid does not look surprised. “I’m sorry, Ed, we have business to do. I’ll talk to you later some more if we have the time,” he says and leaves together with Sasha in the direction where Bertie and Wellington were talking. Hamid goes and starts talking to them. Sasha seemed to have vanished into thin air. Bertie leaves Wellington after a couple of minutes looks around, sees Ed, walks over and tells him that they should leave. They leave--Bertie being slightly drunk--and go back home and to sleep. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the wonderful [Desilite](/users/Desilite) for reading over it  
>  I'm posting this today as I would forget to do it on the weekend since it's my birthday tomorrow!

Life continues like that. The days turn into weeks and then months. They keep going out together to nice restaurants, plays or parties where Ed seems to recognize more and more people. Hamid keeps visiting them from time to time, and he brings Azu with him one time when Bertie isn’t around. Sasha joins Hamid a couple of times without him noticing. The only reason why Ed knows that is because there is some new yarn in his room, mostly in a nice yellow. Bertie and Ed have a good time together, but Bertie seems to slowly lose interest in Ed. He still enthusiastically chats with Ed over lunch and dinner but maybe once a month he goes to parties alone.

Ed starts to wonder why Bertie isn’t as interested in him as he was before. He concludes that it has to be something he did and tries to figure out what he did, but he has done the same things as in the first days of the marriage: wake up early, embroider, play with Sol and the other dogs, especially Brutor, and spend the afternoon with Bertie when he was around. Bertie was home less often; he was more at parties or with friends.

During the hot summer days, Ed seems to get more of Bertie’s attention by walking around the estate with his shirt open or no shirt on at all. Bertie seems to look at Ed more when he’s playing with the dogs like that.

The days get shorter again and the leaves start to slowly turn yellow, red and brown. Ed tries to keep Bertie’s attention by starting more conversations outside of their shared meals, but Bertie’s attention doesn’t seem to focus on Ed as much as it used to at the start of the marriage. Ed concludes that that didn’t work as he wanted so he mostly drops it after a month. He asks Bertie if he wants to play with Sol and Brutor outside. The first time Bertie agrees to it willingly and easy. He seems to have fun, throwing sticks or disks for the dogs to catch or tell them to make some tricks. The second time, he is still willing to join. So they continue that for a while, till Bertie seems to grow weary of the dogs and Ed has to convince him to join them and Ed stops asking Bertie to play with the dogs together.

Once the leaves have turned almost completely into a colourful mess, Bertie starts talking about hunting and how much fun it is. Ed has never hunted in his life, as his parents didn’t see anything in hunting for fun and they didn’t want Ed to hold or play with any bows and arrows or guns, since they feared he would hurt himself accidentally. That means that Ed had a very limited knowledge of hunting and is more appalled than interested when Bertie suggests that they should go and hunt some deer together since the hunting season was starting.

Ed decides he will try it at least once so his dear husband can’t leave or ignore him for not trying what he likes, but it goes as well as anyone would imagine.

They take their horses and ride to the forest where they hunt the deer, that bit is easy, since Ed is excellent at riding horses. It’s one of the things his parents had taught him and allowed him to do alone. Bertie gives him a gun and tells Ed how to shoot it just as they are near the forest. Ed understands how it works and what he has to do but he doesn’t like it, those weapons feel wrong in his hands, like they do way more harm than they should, but he doesn’t voice his concerns, as they would probably upset Bertie.

With that, the hunt begins. Bertie is enthusiastic and Ed is not sure he will even shoot his gun once. He likes deer when they are alive and pretty and not dead and bloody. As soon as Bertie sees the first deer, he fires his gun and hits it perfectly; it walks a couple of meters and then collapses on the ground. Ed couldn’t even react to raise his own gun. He just froze in place on his horse and watched in horror how that majestic creature dropped so gracelessly to the ground. 

Dead.

At least that’s what he assumes. A shudder runs through him and he has to look away to not start crying or vomiting. Bertie gets off his horse and walks over to the deer and checks it over. He seems kind of satisfied so he gets back on his horse.

“Come on, Ed, let’s find one for you! One that is just as beautiful as this one!” Bertie says and heads off further into the forest. Ed follows him reluctantly while he thinks about how bad it will feel and how much he will regret knowing that he killed such a beautiful creature himself. When he sees a deer, he can’t bring himself to raise the gun and shoot, so it just runs further, happy and alive.

“Too slow, my dear Ed. You have to shoot it! Otherwise, it’s boring and for the weak women,” Bertie boasts. 

“I can’t do it. I don’t want to hurt those beautiful living creatures. They should live, not die and rot on the ground! You do them wrong by hunting them!” Ed says. He starts rather quiet but he grows louder as he continues to speak. Bertie’s face shifts into a disapproving grimace and he shakes his head as Ed says the last bit.

“BUT THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT! TO FIND THEM AND SHOOT THEM!” Bertie shouts, not understanding what Ed means. Ed turns away from Bertie and rides in the direction of the estate while thinking about how amazingly he has just messed up that situation and how Bertie will hate him now for talking against him. He passes the deer that Bertie shot and looks sadly at it and the way the sun reflects on the fur.

He stops his horse, gets down and walks over to the deer. He sees that the deers corpse is still moving. It’s still breathing. Not dead yet! But the poor thing will probably not be alive for long and he strokes sadly over the head while the sun shines on him through the trees. His hand gets warmer and he feels an energy running through it that seems to come from the sun that shines on his hair, face and arms. He suddenly remembers what Azu once said about healing magic and how she described it. She said it felt like a warm hug from Aphrodite as the healing magic flows through the hand and she lays on the person she wants to heal. Suddenly the gun wound that Bertie dealt the poor deer closes up. The deer moves its head and looks Ed in the eyes, gets up, bumps its head against Ed’s still outstretched hand, and then runs off into the forest in a different direction.

Ed is utterly confused by what just happened and stares after the living deer. He gets back on his horse and rides back to the house and goes to Sol as soon as he arrives. Sol wants a lot of cuddles and keeps nudging Ed with his head to give him head scritches or licks Ed’s hand or arm to get his attention back. Sol’s fur looks even more like gold than usual, especially when the sun hits it, and it feels warmer than usual.

Ed spends the rest of the day with Sol outside in the sun, reading one of the Harrison Cambells he has in his room and avoiding Bertie who comes back in the evening. He just reaches the point where Jennifer makes a bad decision when he hears the door open and hears a clearly drunk Bertie stumble into the house. Ed sees him and knows that Bertie has seen him in return but they don’t talk and go to bed without having exchanged a single word.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as always thanks to the lovely [Desilite](/users/Desilite) for beta reading this chapter!

The next morning Ed wakes up before the sun rises, as always, and does his embroidery. Everything is as always. When Bertie wakes up, he doesn’t wish Ed a good morning, or noon as it usually is. He just eats in silence and ignores Ed. By the afternoon, they still haven’t said a single word to each other since Ed left the forest the day before. Bertie just leaves the house without saying where he goes or what he does. The only thing that Ed sees is that he is dressed like he’s going to attend one of the parties they have been frequenting for a while together. So Ed just finishes his day off like the last but more at ease since Bertie will probably come back very late or in the morning. He picks up another book since he finished the last one and goes outside to sit in the sun while it goes down. Sol is lying next to him, absolutely relaxed and happy about the cuddles he gets from time to time.

After some time, Ed notices a shadow that comes closer and sits down near him. Ed looks up and sees Sasha just lying there in the grass, enjoying the sun, not caring about who could see her. Ed knows that Sasha is nice, especially since she brings him yarn or new Cambell books.

“Hello Sasha!” he says.

“‘Ello mate! How are ya?” she asks.

Ed just shrugs and says, “Thank you for the yarn and books! They were really nice, especially the latest book! Do you want to see what I made out of the yarn?”

He doesn’t even wait for Sasha’s answer and gets up to get the shirt he embroidered. He has gotten a lot of embroidery done since the wedding in spring; he finished his pillowcase after a couple of weeks, then he started to do that shirt, then the blanket, and now he is working on another shirt. He finds it rather quickly, since he looked at it in the morning, so he grabs it and takes it with him outside. He sits down next to Sasha again, pets Sol who stayed outside, and hands it over to Sasha so she can take a look at it. She takes the shirt gladly and gives it a good close look.

“This is really good! And worth a lot. I’m impressed, mate, I didn’t think you could make that yarn look so good,” she comments after she finishes her examination. She hands it back to Ed, who gently folds it and lays it down in his lap.

“Bertie’s an ass, why do you try and get his attention? Ya should be glad to not be his centre of attention,” Sasha asks after a short pause. Ed thinks about it for a while but doesn’t find another reason than because Bertie is his husband, that his husband should show interest in him, and he says so. Sasha thinks about it for a second and then shakes her head but doesn’t say anything. After that they just sit there in a comfortable silence till the sun has fully set and it’s dark. Ed gets up and wants to help Sasha up but she is already standing. Ed offers her to eat with him and she refuses. They say goodbye for now and part ways. Sasha disappears somewhere in the shadows and Ed goes to bed.

The next day, Bertie is home again, fast asleep in his bed. Ed sees him and thinks for a moment but Ed doesn’t wake him up and just does his usual routine. Bertie joins him for lunch and they exchange a couple of words but afterwards Bertie ignores him till the evening. Both of them stay home that evening but they don’t really talk or stay in each other’s presence for long.

When Ed wakes up the day after he does his usual sitting in the first light of the sun while embroidering. The first sun rays that hit his face feel like a gentle embrace, a comforting hug. After the sun is up in the sky, he goes to eat breakfast. He peaks a look at the newspaper on the table that one of the servants left there for him. What he sees there makes him freeze. The top article is about Bertie and the party two days ago. The headline reads:

_**“Sir Bertrand MacGuffingham unfaithful?”** _

Ed doesn’t process what he’s just read, he just stares at the paper. He shakes his head then picks up the newspaper to read the actual article after he sat down on one of the chairs. He reads the article and can’t believe what was the topic. The article was about how Bertie had kissed some other lad at the party where everyone to see and then seems to have disappeared with that bloke. Of course, it was mentioned that Bertie was married to Ed, and the author speculated that Ed was a bad husband.

That isn’t true, Ed knows that, but he still can’t stop the tears from filling his eyes and slowly spilling over. He brushes them away with the back of his hand but new ones are already there to replace them. He tries to hide his sobs but fails--luckily Bertie is a tight sleeper who is really hard to wake up. He storms off outside to the dogs without eating a single bite of his breakfast. The plate stands abandoned on the table.

When he reaches the dogs, Sol is running up to him and starts to lick Ed’s hand. Ed pets him on the head and Sol instantly lies down on the ground to get belly rubs from Ed, who of course willingly complies. Tears still run down his face. A tiny smile appears on his face but can’t fight off the tears or the sadness. Sol always had that effect on Ed; he can’t be sad or angry for long when he is with Sol and the other dogs.

After some belly rubs for Sol, the tears die down and the smile on Ed’s face gets more prominent. He gently pushes his face in Sol’s belly fur in a playful manner, like one would maybe do it with a baby to entertain them. Sol seems to like it and jumps to his feet as soon as Ed’s face is away from his belly and jumps excitedly around Ed, who’s still sitting in the grass. Ed stands up and picks up a ball to throw for Sol to fetch.

The ball flies through the air and Sol sprints after it at breakneck speed. When the ball is in Sol’s jumping reach, he leaps into the air and fetches the ball just to sprint back to Ed. Sol drops the ball in Ed’s hand just like he was trained by Ed. Ed gives him some head scritches and then throws the ball again with the smile still on his face. They repeat this game several times and suddenly Ed can hear the clocks strike noon. Ed gives Sol a last head scritch for now and goes back inside to eat lunch. He has almost forgotten about the paper and B*rtie cheating on him with some lad, but he sees the newspaper on his way back in. He picks it up and walks to his room to put the paper on his desk before he eats lunch.

Bertie doesn’t eat with him, but Ed knows he hasn’t left the house. Ed is kind of conflicted about it: on one hand, he is happy that he doesn’t have to face Bertie, on the other hand, he is sad that Bertie has no interest in him whatsoever. Tears collect themselves in Ed’s eyes again while he tries to eat lunch without appetite. A stray one rolls down his cheek and he quickly wipes it away. He stabs his food more intensely than necessary and takes a tiny bite out of it. Half his plate is eaten when another tear starts to roll down his cheek and he pushes the plate away and gets up. He goes into his room, closes the door and flings himself dramatically on the bed. Ed grabs the pillow with the sun pattern embroidery he did and starts to cry again.

The pillow starts to feel slightly warmer than it should feel and if Ed’s eyes where open he could notice that it has a light glow to it. The warmth feels like a light hug from a guardian, like a promise that everything will be alright in the future and that it will be better than what he has now. Those feelings calm Ed down and he sobs once or twice and then his tears die down fully. He hugs the pillow once more and lets it go to sit up on his bed. He slowly stands up and walks slowly to the desk, opens one of the drawers, and gets out some paper and starts writing a letter to Sasha. She will understand his misery and help him solve it.

The rest of the day flies by. Bertie leaves the house again to go to another party but doesn’t ask Ed if he wants to join him, which means that Ed is alone except for the servants. He has sent the letter to Sasha in the afternoon when he finished it and he hopes that she or one of the others from the LOLOMG has gotten it.

About an hour after Bertie leaves, there is a knock on the door. Ed gets up from his bed, lays the book on his desk and goes to open the door. Behind the door stands Oscar Wilde.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the ever wonderful [Desilite](/users/Desilite) for reading over it

The next morning Ed wakes up before the sun rises, as always, and does his embroidery. Everything Oscar Wilde hugs Ed as a greeting and Ed leads him inside. They sit down in the living room on opposite sides and Oscar says: ”I’m sorry you have to deal with Mister MacGuffingham. If you want to leave this house and him behind, you are welcome to join me and the LOLOMG. We have a room free and could always use some more helping hands”

“But I can’t do magic or fight, and I have to take care of Sol and the dogs. Bertie wouldn’t do that,” Ed says. Oscar looks displeased but nods. Ed thinks for a moment and then asks if Oscar wants anything to drink.

He shakes his head and responds: “I should get going. I was just stopping by because I read the letter you wrote to Sasha, but she is currently out on a mission. So I decided to check on you after everything with Bertie and the news.” He pauses for a second.

“I knew from the start that Bertie would do something like that. He has a habit of hooking up with Lads. He tried with me, Zolf, and I guess Hamid, but that must have been before we knew Hamid. I but I still had some hope he wouldn’t,” Oscar says. “If you change your mind, you know how to contact me or Sasha,” Oscar adds after a small pause. Ed nods, and Oscar gets up and walks to the door. Ed follows him.

“I have to give him another chance, you know? I can’t just leave him; he is still my husband even if he’s unfaithful and doesn’t like me,” Ed mutters. Oscar stops with his hand on the door handle.

“I know, Ed, that’s why I don’t force you to come with me. You have a good heart, and I trust you to make the right decision.” And with that, Oscar Wilde opens the door and leaves the house. He waves at Ed just before he closes the door, and Ed waves back. Ed walks back into his room and sits down on the desk chair and stares at the newspaper he left on the desk. He shakes his head and decides to look at it again in the morning when the sun is up again. So he gets ready for bed and falls asleep in a second.

The next morning, he gets up just before dawn, so he sits down in front of the window, curtains open, and watches the first rays of the sun get up. The first direct ray that hits him feels like a hug and a great comfort. It feels like a parent comforting their child after they hurt their knee, just soft and loving. He enjoys the sun a bit more and then picks up the newspaper that is lying next to him on the desk.

He reads over the article about Bertie again and feels tears collecting in his eyes so he moves on to another article. The article is about some of the deities that have a temple in London and some that are popular in other regions of England and the world. All have a note where their biggest temples are. Ed remembers most of them from the time his teachers forced him to learn about politics, but the main ones that are stuck in his head are the Mars lot, Poseidon, Aphrodite and Artemis. He knows that Azu is a Paladin of Aphrodite and can heal really well--that’s what Hamid was talking about. Someone mentioned that Grizzop was a paladin of Artemis and that he is good with his bow and hunting. Poseidon was about water and weather and you should go to them if you need rain. He can also remember that there was something mentioned with Zolf and Poseidon but he doesn’t remember it, and the Mars lot keep the order in a lot of places--they are quite powerful.

He reads over the names before reading over any descriptions. Zeus, Artemis, Aphrodite, Poseidon, Hades, Mars, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Demeter, Hera, Hermes, Apollo. He reads over them one by one, but most of them are quite boring. The only ones that are interesting are Aphrodite, as they are well known for their healing ability, and Apollo. The cult of Apollo has a strong connection to the sun, as Apollo is the god of the sun and sunshine. As soon as he reads over it, he feels warm inside. If someone from outside would look at Ed in that moment they would see Ed glowing.

There isn’t a lot written about what most of the Apollo lot do, but it has a remark that most of them are quite handsome and a snide remark that most of them aren’t the brightest intelligence-wise but they are all really cheery and have good manners. There is a half-sentence that some of the greatest healers are paladins of Apollo and Ed gets curious at that. He decides that he has to give the temple of Apollo a visit. If Bertie is going to ignore him further, he might think about joining the cult of Apollo or ask Sasha for advice. He gives Bertie 3 days to apologize and be nice to Ed. Otherwise, he’s going to take Oscar up on that offer. He makes plans to go to the temple for the next day so Bertie has more time to apologize before he decides anything.

For the moment Ed puts away the newspaper and gets up to play with Sol and Brutor. When he reaches Sol, he notices that Sol’s fur seems to glow in the shade of the house. He doesn’t think about it. It’s just a trick of the light, Ed thinks. If there was someone from the Cult of Apollo around, they would tell Ed that he is blessed by their god. They could tell from the glow of the fur and how it reflects on Ed because that is no normal dog--that is Apollo himself. Right in that moment, it’s clearer than ever. But Ed doesn’t know that yet, so he leans down and pats Sol’s fur. Sol licks Ed over the face and Ed can’t help but laugh out loud and tell him off for it.

Brutor walks out as well and nudges Ed so he gets some pets as well. Ed and the dogs walk into the sun and Ed takes out a ball. He throws it and Sol sprints and catches it, as always. Brutor brings Ed a stick and Ed throws that as well for Brutor to catch. They continue this game of catch, with Ed throwing both the ball and the stick and Sol and Brutor bringing it back to him, till it’s lunchtime. Ed gives both Brutor and Sol some head scritches and then goes inside to eat lunch.

Bertie isn’t at the table yet, but he should be awake. It doesn’t bother Ed if Bertie isn’t there--he doesn’t have to be tense and dread all of the possible conversations Bertie could start. Ed starts to eat and Bertie doesn’t show up a couple of minutes into his meal, so he continues to eat. When he finishes, Bertie hasn’t shown up. Ed gets up and goes back to his room to get another novel and takes it outside to read in the sun.

He spends the rest of the day alternating between reading and playing with Sol. He doesn’t even catch a glimpse of Bertie over the day. He doesn’t say good morning or afternoon, he doesn’t come outside to play with Brutor, nothing. No sign of him at all. When Ed goes to eat dinner, Bertie isn’t there. Ed is a bit worried, but if it’s Bertie’s choice to not see his husband the whole day, so be it. That day, Ed goes to bed shortly after sunset to get a good night’s rest before tomorrow, as he had decided he wanted to be at the temple before sunrise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the absolutly wonderful [Desilite](/users/Desilite) for betareading the chapter!

Ed wakes up an hour before the sunrise. He gets out of his bed and gets ready to leave the house. He takes a quick look in Bertie’s room and finds him sleeping like a baby. Bertie won’t even notice that Ed is leaving the house that early. Ed goes into the garden and wakes up Sol, who is happily snoring in his dog bed. Sol sleepily licks Ed’s hand and gets up. Ed takes Sol’s leash but doesn’t attach it to the collar.

Together they leave the MacGuffingham estate and walk towards the Temple of Apollo. Ed regularly looks at Sol as they walk closer to the church As they get closer, Sol’s fur starts to glow; at first, it’s really faint, but it grows slowly stronger.

They reach the temple after half an hour of walking. The temple is located in a church that is several stories high and has big windows and a couple of statues on the façade, from what he can see in the very dim light of the morning. He walks up to the main door and the two guards in front of the door say in unison, “Hello, stranger, do you want to visit the church? Do you want a tour of the church? Your dog can come with you. He seems like a special boy. Please come in.” One opens the door to let Ed and Sol in. Sol runs into the church as soon as the door is open enough. The inside of the church is bright and colourful. There are several colourful statues on the wall and several balconies, all of which have windows on the walls. At the end of the church there is a big golden statue of a godlike figure holding a sun in both hands. Ed takes a step forward without thinking--he wanted to take up the guard on the tour, but as soon as he saw the statue that should represent Apollo, he is drawn to it. Sol is waiting in front of the statue looking up at the sun like it is the best treat he has ever seen. Ed says a quick sorry to the guard and then walks into the church as well.

He feels warmer as he gets closer to the statue and Sol. Sol’s fur looks like it is actually glowing with a golden light. As he reaches Sol again, he bends down and pets Sol’s head. The feeling he gets from petting Sol’s glowing fur is the same as the feeling he has when the first sunlight of the day hits his body, like a parent giving their kid a kiss on the forehead and wishing them a good morning. Ed looks around some more in the church and sees someone standing at a staircase to the right. The person seems surprised at both Ed and Sol standing there unbothered in front of the statue of the church’s god while both of them are glowing in a light that looks like the first light of a sunrise. And all of that before the actual sunrise.

Ed turns towards the person and says a quiet good morning in their direction. The person walks over to him and says, “Good morning. I see you are blessed by Apollo. Are you a paladin or a cleric?”

“Oh, no, I am neither!” Ed tries to wave it off. To his knowledge he is neither and he doesn’t know what being a paladin involves. “I just came here to see the temple and maybe ask a couple of questions. But may I ask if I could watch the sunrise from one of the church’s balconies? I’ve gotten into the habit of doing so.” The person nods and motions for Ed to follow him up the stairs. Ed is led upstairs and through a hallway to one of the balconies that faces east. The person lets Ed walk onto the balcony and stands in the doorway. Ed picks up Sol, who has followed him on the balcony, and looks towards the horizon where the sun will show up in a couple of minutes. The sky is getting lighter by the second and Ed watches the few clouds turn pink and orange. As the first sun rays hit Ed, he feels that warm embrace again that he already felt when he entered and stood in front of that statue with Sol.

The high paladin who is standing in the doorway looks at Ed as the sun is rising. Ed glows stronger when the first sun rays hit him as he pets the dog in his arms. They see the smile on Ed’s face and how relaxed he looks. Just from looking at him they feel calm and like they have met their god.

Once the sun has moved over the horizon, Ed turns around and looks at the person. “Thank you very much. It’s an important ritual in my morning. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier but I’m Ed Keystone,” Ed says, and holds out a hand.

The person takes Ed's hand and says, “Dwyn, high paladin of Apollo and leader of this temple. Nice to meet you, Ed.” They lead Ed away from the balcony and down in the main room again. “You would make a good paladin. It seems like you already got a good bond to Apollo from what I saw up there.”

Ed shakes his head at that and says, “No, no you got that wrong. I don’t have a close connection to any god. I just like to watch the sunrise. It is always nice and warm when the first rays of sun fall on you.”

The high paladin smiles at Ed and says, “That really sounds like Apollo likes you. It feels the same for me now, but it didn’t always, only as my bond with him got stronger and definitely after I joined the cult of Apollo. Also, that dog of yours is no normal dog. I’m sure you don’t know where he came from, am I right? What’s his name? Sonne? Soley? Rah?“

“Sol. His name is Sol and he lived with, well, my husband for now. His fur sometimes seems to glow, but that’s just a trick of the light,” Ed answers the high paladin. He thinks for a second, then says, “But I guess it is a lot of things coming together at once, so it could be.” The high paladin nods and seems pleased with what Ed just said. They are aware that you can’t change a world with one sentence. One needs time to think about it.

“Do you have any questions, young Ed? About us? About Apollo? About what we do and magic?” the high paladin asks, a smile on their lips.

Ed thinks for a moment, trying to understand all of the new stuff he learned in the last minutes, and then says, “Could you tell me how I can heal someone? On purpose? I know I healed a deer once, but I didn’t know what I was doing back then, but I saved it from death.”

The high paladin looks at him and says, “That is a noble goal, and I can see why you would like to learn the art of healing. It's useful, especially if your friends and family get into fights often. Like the friends of your husband do, if I may say so. We had to patch up Zolf Smith and his group a couple of times when they were around, hurt and exhausted.” Ed’s interest is suddenly higher when the high paladin mentions Zolf, but he remembers that Zolf and the LOLOMG are quite well known these days.

The high paladin asks him to follow him into a different room so they don’t have to talk in the main hall for everyone to hear and bother the praying guests of the temple. Ed follows, and when Dwyn explains how healing works, Ed listens intensely and absorbs the knowledge. He gets to practice it on minor wounds where he can’t do much damage and it works really well. He heals all of them exceptionally well and picks up small tricks on the go.

The time flies by as they teach Ed and soon enough it is noon. Dwyn offers Ed--and Sol who was watching Ed the whole time--to eat lunch with them. Ed accepts and they have a nice chat over a really good stew. Afterwards, Ed learns some more, and at around 3 pm, Ed and Sol leave the Temple to go back to the MacGuffingham estate, as Ed decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to be gone the whole day with Bertie having no chance to apologize to Ed. On the way back, Ed has a smile on his face and Sol seems more energetic than before. He runs in front of Ed and then back to him like he can’t wait for them to get home.

They reach the house about half an hour later. Ed is still in a good mood and doesn’t even think about Bertie and what he did; Sol is still very energetic, running around. Before Ed heads inside, he throws Sols ball a couple of times for Sol to catch it. Once Sol has calmed down, Ed gives him head scritches as a goodbye and walks up to the front door.

He takes a deep breath and then turns the key to open the door.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to the wonderful [Desilite](/users/Desilite) for beta reading the chapter!
> 
> This is a bit late because I was busy with moving and with uni which starts soon for me. This is the last actual chapter after that there will be an epilogue which I'll hopefully finish till the weekend and upload then (probably sunday as I'm gonna have wifi for sure then)

He takes a deep breath and then turns the key to open the door.

Behind the door is nothing unusual, so Ed walks in, puts his shoes and jacket away, and then walks further into the hallway. When he reaches the end of the hallway, he can hear faint voices. He doesn’t think of anything of it, as that isn’t unusual. As he walks up the stairs, he can hear them more and more. One of them clearly belongs to Bertie; the other one he can’t place, but it’s the voice of a man. He’s confused for a moment as to why they aren’t in the sitting room, but maybe Bertie is showing the guest something upstairs. When he gets closer to Bertie’s room, he can figure out more of the words they’re saying. He doesn’t listen to what they say because it would be rude to do that but he can’t help to pick up the words “fantastic”, “should repeat that” and “should put on clothes”. The last one Ed can’t brush off as Bertie and a friend doing something innocent together. He short circuits and walks straight to Bertie’s room instead of his own room.

He walks there and throws the door open so it crashes with a massive bang against the wall. Behind the door Ed can see some clothes lying across the floor like they were thrown there in a hurry. Two shirts, two pairs of trousers, four socks and two pairs of underpants. He looks up a bit and sees Bertie’s big bed with the golden blanket that is pulled up to the chest over two people lying next to each other. Both with a bare chest and way too close to each other.

This sight fuels a massive rage in Ed. He walks up to Bertie and the other man in the bed and smacks Bertie right in the face with his hand. Then he turns to the other man and repeats the motion with him.

He takes a step back and looks at Bertie and then screams “YOU EVILDOER!!! I’M LEAVING YOU, YOU CHEATER!! MAY YOU DIE ALONE YOU HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE MAN!!!!!”

Ed stares at them both for a second. Bertie looks like he wants to say something but Ed yells, “DON’T YOU DARE! YOU CHEATER! I WANT TO NEVER SEE OR HEAR FROM YOU AGAIN! SO DON’T YOU DARE SAY A WORD!” and slaps Bertie in the face once more. Bertie stays quiet after that. Ed turns around and storms out of the room.

He can feel tears collecting in his eyes as he runs to his room. The first one falls as he is halfway to his room and after that they won’t stop. When he reaches his room, he just stands there for a moment, vision all blurry from the tears. Ed looks around. Everything is normal, the plants are on the window sill, embroidery on the desk, clothes in the wardrobe, his bed is neatly made and all the books are on the shelf.

Ed wipes away the tears and takes a bag of holding he has around for trips and throws in his embroidery stuff, his favourite books, clothes, paper and parchment and some belongings with emotional worth in the bag. Then he storms out of the room, puts on his shoes and goes outside.

Sol greets him again and licks his hand. Ed pets him and then tells Sol to follow him. He walks towards the street, tears collecting in his eyes and his vision gets blurry from all the tears. He suddenly bumps into someone who is bigger than him.

The other one embraces him in a hug and Ed just gives in and hugs them as well. He doesn’t know who it is but there are only a few people who are as tall as he is and fewer who are taller than him. Ed breaks the embrace and wipes away his tears only to see a friendly orc face looking back at him with a sympathetic smile.

Azu.

He hugs her again, closer this time, and the tears are back. He hears someone clearing their throat and Ed lets go of Azu. He looks around and sees another orc a little bit behind Azu. The orc looks like how Ed imagines an archaeologist, complete with the hat.

“Oh, meet Tjelvar! He decided to come with me and Sasha to look after you. Sasha was worried–” “I was not worried!--” “--after she read your letter, and since you didn’t come back with Wilde that evening, she wanted to check on you,” Azu says, with Sasha interjecting from behind Ed. The other orc gives him a friendly wave and Ed waves back.

“Hello Ed. Yes, Tjelvar Stornsnasson, archaeologist, I help out Mister Wilde and Mister Smith with artefacts if they need” Tjelvar says. “Shall we go to Mister Wilde, since it appears you have most of your belongings in that bag?” He gestures at the bag in Ed’s hand.

Ed nods, and they walk away from the MacGuffingham estate and Bertie.


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the eveer lovely and wonderful [Desilite](/users/Desilite) for betaing the fic!

They arrive at the house where the LOLOMG are living. It’s a nice big house a little bit outside of London with a big garden behind it. In front of the house is some grass where a small goblin shoots arrows in a tree. Zolf and Wilde are having a nice chat sitting on the lawn.

When Wilde notices Azu, Tjelvar and Ed walking towards them, he gets up, gives Zolf a kiss on the cheek and walks up to them, a hand gently brushing over one of Grizzop’s ears as he passes him. Zolf stays on the ground with a blush on his cheeks.

“Hello Ed, I see you decided to join us now,” Wilde says and holds out his arms to invite Ed into a hug. Ed gladly takes the offer and hugs him.

“Come inside, I’ll show you the room you can stay in,” Wilde says when Ed breaks the hug. He leads Ed into the house and to a small but bright room with a big window.

“It used to be Howard Carter’s room, but he decided to finally move into Barnes’s room, since he spends most of his time there anyway,” Wilde remarks as an offhand comment.

“Oh, so they are a couple? Barnes and Carter, I mean?” Wilde just nods at that. “And who’s in the room next to me?“ Ed asks.

“That would be me,” comes the voice of Tjelvar from the door. “If you need anything, like someone to talk to, someone to play games with or just company, feel free to come over and ask me. For you I’ll gladly put my work down,” Tjelvar says and smiles at him. Ed blushes, nods and says, “Will do.”

A couple of days pass and Ed and Sol settle in quite well and chat to almost everyone who is at the house. He now knows that Oscar, Zolf, Grizzop and Cel are in a relationship and Azu and Hamid are also a couple and Sasha is really close with all of them but she doesn’t like the commitment and fixed status of a relationship so she just stays around everyone as much as she likes and kiss them if she feels like it.

Ed really enjoys the talks with Tjelvar. He’s just very nice and he smiles a lot at Ed and he really likes to just sit with Ed in the rising sun. That particular day they are sitting in the dark waiting for the sun to rise together. Tjelvar is awake to sort through some artifacts and of course spend time with Ed. Ed is leaning on the slightly taller orc’s shoulder and enjoying his presence.

The sun rises slowly and as soon as the first rays shine on them Ed feels Apollo's love for him and Apollo giving them his blessing. He now knows that it is Apollo's blessing and Apollo giving him a nod that he is ok with them being together. Ed smiles at knowing that and lifts his head off Tjelvar’s shoulder and looks at him.

“Tjelvar,” Ed says quietly.

“Yes, Ed my dear?” Tjelvar answers. Ed’s heart beats faster at Tjelvar saying his name. He takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a second and then looks at the orc and says, “Do you want to be with me?”

Tjelvar has a confused look on his face and then says “Of course I want to be with you! I mean, I am with you right now, and I really like our mornings together. Why do you ask?”

“Meant in the way Wilde and Zolf are together and because I like you and Apollo seems to like you as well and gives me his blessing. So do you want to? Be with me like that, I mean.”

Tjelvar doesn’t say anything to that and just leans forward, takes Ed's face in his hands and gives him a kiss on his lips.

“Of course I do, Eddie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This officially marks the end of this fic! It was a great joy to write this fic that started off as a fun idea and then evolved into this multi chapter fic! 
> 
> Comments and Kudos are very much apprechiated and I live for them and even if I don't reply on them know I read them and grinn emensely over them.


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